WALTHAM, Mass.- At the 2013 Brandeis Fencing Invitational, the Brandeis University men's and women's fencing squads fought valiantly against tough competition. The men's squad went 2-3 on the afternoon while the women's squad posted a 2-4 record.

On the men's side, the Judges defeated Johns Hopkins (18-9) and the Air Force Academy (15-12) but fell to St. John's (12-15), Yale (10-17), and Columbia (7-20). The women defeated Johns Hopkins (16-11) and Yale (14-13) but were edged by St. John's (13-14) and Air Force (12-15) while also suffering losses against Cornell (9-18) and Columbia (4-23).

The men's saber squad was the top performing group for the afternoon, winning in three of their five matchups. They secured the largest margin of victory of the day for Brandeis when they defeated Johns Hopkins 8-1. The Judges were led by junior Adam Mandel (White Plains, N.Y./Masters School) who went 13-2 for the invitational including 3-0 performances against Johns Hopkins, St. John's, and Yale. Junior Jess Ochs-Willard (Montclair, N.J./Montclair) also had a strong tournament, taking eight bouts on the day.

The foil squad was led by senior Julian Cardillo (Medford, Mass./St. Johns Prep) and junior Noah Berman (Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto) as they each notched seven victories while Cardillo went a perfect 3-0 in the win over Johns Hopkins.

Sophomore epee Tom Hearne (Holmdel, N.J./Ranney School) led his squad by winning seven bouts on the afternoon including taking two bouts apiece as Brandeis edged both Johns Hopkins and Air Force 5-4 in that weapon.

On the women's side, the saber squad was excellent as they won five of their six matchups, falling only to Columbia. Rookie Annabel Sharahy (Wayne, N.J./Newark Acad.) led the way with eight victories including earning the clinching point for her weapon against St. John's, defeating her opponent five touches to none.

The foil squad was led by sophomore Caroline Mattos (Cumberland, R.I./LaSalle Acad.) who won nine bouts on the afternoon including a 2-0 performance against Johns Hopkins.

The eppeists were led by sophomore Sonya Glickman (Valhalla, N.Y./Valhalla) with nine victories while classmate Gwendolyn Mowell (Wyckoff, N.J./Indian Hills) chipped in seven more including winning all three of her bouts against Air Force.

Both squads are off until next semester when they head to the USA Fencing North American Cup on January 17th.